In a culture that’s filled with an incessant call to action, it is paramount that we stop from time to time to think. This may sound like common sense, but in a fast-paced world it’s hard to find time to stop and consider things for more than a few minutes. Throughout my hectic high school career I have made a point of doing what many people fail to do on a daily basis: reflect and assess my life and decisions. I am a thinker. I analyze, postulate, and contemplate– sometimes too much– but always with the intention of learning something new about myself. You might be surprised to learn that I do my best thinking not, in the classroom, not in my bedroom, but in the bathroom.

The bathroom has always been a place where I can sit and relax in peace, an oasis of calm and contemplation. The closest thing to an interruption is a polite knock on the door, and a soft quiet is continually maintained. Bathrooms are kept diligently clean, and ample mirrors provide for sufficient self inspection. In short, the bathroom is the ideal place for introspection and critical thought.

My bathroom, which is situated a brief walk down the hall from my bedroom, is a wonderful, pristine chamber where I take solace in silence and retreat from the stresses of my life. After a long day of high school and homework, clubs and activities, I head to my bathroom to think and reflect about the day past and the days ahead.
In fact, I do some of my best thinking in the bathroom. Everything from ideas for novels, screenplays, songs and movies, from what to eat for lunch are considered when I take refuge in the bathroom. Solutions to longstanding problems come to me in epiphanies while staring into the symmetrical, blue-tiled floor. I achieve new understandings of books that I have read while looking up at the ivory coated walls. I ruminate on my friends and family, and what they mean to me. I even realize the numerous mistakes and errors that I have recently made, and attempt to resolve my flaws.

The thinking I do in the bathroom– whether it be asinine fantasies about my future as a rock star, or the sorry realization that my mother was in fact correct– is important to me. Taking the time to think and reflect has kept me grounded during my high school career, allowing me to make good decisions and stay focused on what is important to me. Instead of living my life blindly and complacently, I have made a choice to think deeply and keep things in perspective. To me, the bathroom is not a place to escape the challenges of reality, but rather a place to embrace and conquer those challenges through the power of human ingenuity.

I know that when I leave home for college, and eventually leave college for the real world, critical thought will remain a constant in my life. No matter what I end up doing with my life–whether it be law, film, or literature–there will always be a clean, quiet bathroom down the hall. And for me, that bathroom will always provide the opportunity to better myself through critical thought.